India Milk production up 20% in 2014-2017

Milk production in the country increased by 20 per cent from 137.7 million tonnes to 165.4 million tonnes between 2014 and 2017, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Radha Mohan Singh has said.

Also, the per capita availability of milk has risen by 15.6 per cent from 307 gms a day to 355 gms per day between 2013-14 and 2016-17, an official statement quoted the minister as saying.

Singh, who was addressing the 16th convocation ceremony of ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), said the government is committed towards ensuring more income to farmers, uplifting the economically backward sections of society, youth employment, better education and healthcare.

He pointed out that Budget 2018 had laid special emphasis on animal husbandry.

With a corpus of Rs 2,450 crore, the government has set up an Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) for financing infrastructure requirement of animal husbandry sector.

Also, in order to meet the working capital requirement of dairy farmers, the facility of Kisan Credit Card has been extended by the government to the fisheries and livestock farmers, he added.

Besides, the government has initiated the “National Mission on Bovine Productivity” in order to help the benefits of animal husbandry schemes reach the farmers directly.